A different Roswell
by Nilanne
Summary: Chapter five for you! Aaahg, I know it took me a lot of time to finish and upload this chapter, but hey, here it is! Find out, what's happening next in the different Roswell. This part is about Max, Emily and Alex. R&R!
1. A real day dream

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters of the tv show Roswell.

A different Roswell

Chapter One: A real day dream

It was a warm and dry afternoon. The mellow colours of the sand, flying throught the air, carried by a hot breeze, were shining brightly through the windows of the Crashdown Café, Roswell, New Mexico. The glass reflected the sunlight that nobody outside the café was able to see, what happened inside it. Usually there was nothing that would have been worth to watch, but not this day. Today something strange was happening, something that would change Liz's life forerver ...

***

`Can't understand all these tourists' , Liz thought and looked at the two people she was going to bring the meal to they had ordered. 

`Why do they think Roswell is that fantastic? I've been living here my whole life long and I haven't met any aliens yet` The sixteen-year-old smiled when she arrived at table number nine where the tourists were waiting.

She gave the burgers to them and explained in a friendly way: "One Weaver and a Smith, right? Something else? A green alien-milkshake?" 

The woman shook her head. "No, that's all. ... Uhm, Miss?" 

"Yeah?", Liz answered knowing the question the tourist was going to ask. They never wanted to know any real facts about Roswell, what they wanted was sience fiction and that was the thing she would give them.

"How long does your family live in Roswell, Miss ..." , the man stopped to read her nameplate, "Miss Parker?"

"Since four generations", she answered. The tourists' faces reflected all their disappointment.

"But my grandma gave me that" Liz took an old looking photo out of her pocket. "I've never shown it to strangers before, but I'm sure a can trust you two"

The woman's hands grabbed the piece of paper showing a creature that could be everything.

Maria's voice came from behind her: "Liz?!" 

Liz looked around and saw her friend near table number fiveteen where she tried to wait two quarreling guys. One of them pushed her away. 

"Please, don't show it to anyone, I'll be right back!", Liz whispered to the tourists and went across the room to talk to Maria who wanted to speak about the latest news or anything else as she did every day during her work.

"You cheeky little girl! You didn't give them the faked photo, did you?", Maria asked her friend who just started to grin. Both laughed. 

"Liz, don't turn around", Maria's voice said while she was on her way to the kitchen to take new coffee.

"Why?" 

"Guess who's sitting at number two!"

Liz turned around. "Max Evans!" 

Her face turned pink when she recognized the tall young man. 

She knew him from the biology lessons, but she was sure he wouldn't remeber her. 

The door bell rang and somebody came in, a girl at the age of 16 or 17. She sat down at number four, Maria's table. The blonde student grinned at her friend, took a new writing pad and a pen and left Liz where she was.

Liz started to clean her tray, heared the noise in the café. 

`Max Evans will never realize that I am alive. And I'm still together with Kyle, so Max-` 

Suddenly her thoughts were cut off.

Everything around her seemd to stop and Liz's body started to scream soundless.

Coolness flew through her veines and pain splitted her mind. Something had hit her stomach and made her fall down backwards.

"Liz? LIZ!" Maria yelled. 

One of the men who had argued a couple of seconds ago had shot Liz! 

He threw the gun away and escaped followed by a second guy who crashed into Maria. He jumped on his feet and ran away.

Liz had still not realized what had happended. She was lying on the floor half-hidden by a table. 

Max got up. Micheal catched his arm and said: "What are you going to do?" His voice sounded seriously.

The girl next to their table ran through the room, passed people who were unable to move. 

"Call the police!" she shouted at Maria and crossed the room quickly.

Max looked at her and followed no matter what this decision would mean to him or to Micheal.

He reached Liz and kneeled down next to the girl who who had just rend Liz's dress to look at her wound. She turned her head to look at Max behind her. 

"She's almost dead"

"Go out of my way!", he shouted and pushed her away. He touched Liz's stomach that was covered with blood, deep red, but now shining black in the light of the café. 

"Liz, look at me, come on. You must look at me!"

`Wasn't there a voice next to me, Max's voice?', asked the dying girl herself. She opened her eyes in slow-motion and throught the deep darkness which was destroying her a beam of light was shining. 

Max smiled and put his warm hand on the wound. 

Millions of pictures rushed through his brain, when he started to use his power to rescue her life: Liz wearing a blue dress, Liz talking to Maria, Liz on her fifth birthday, Liz ...

She felt the warmth of his skin flowing through her body, healing her wound. Suddenly the pain had gone. 

Max took a quick look around. He shattered a bottle, spilled the ketchup inside it on Liz's stomach.

"You broke the bottle, okay? Can you tell them that?", Max said nervously and stood up. 

He turned and looked at the other young woman sitting on the floor behind Liz. Her blue eyes were starring at his hand. Her own ones were holding Liz's head. 

"Thank you for helping me", Max told her. "Don't tell them, what I did, don't tell them ...", the boy added before leaving them. 

"Are you okay?, a voice wakened the two 16-year-olds up. Maria was standing in front of them.

"Yeah", answered both at the same time. 

Maria watched them sceptically. "Shall I help you, Liz?" 

"No, thanks, I'm fine", her friend told her. Her cheeks' colour turned from extreme pale back to normal and Liz started to smile. Her eyes went through the café until they reached the face of the young woman next to her.

Both girls stood up and shook each other's hands. 

"Thank you for helpin' me, although I've been okay all the time!", Liz lied to hide the truth.

"I think the shock about the noise of the shot saved you", the strange girl replied.

"Yeah, I think so. Ev'rything went too fast to realize what really happened", Liz said friendly. 

"I think so, too. ... I'm Emily, Emily Frost", the blue-eyed girl told both of the other young women.

"Liz Parker and that's my friend Maria"

***

Ten minutes later Sheriff Valenti arrived at the Crashdown, ten minutes too late as usual. He entered the café and took a look around. 

Liz, his son's girl-friend, sat shivering on one of the small silver-blue painted tables. Her dress seemed to be full of dried blood. Another girl, he did not recognize her, was putting her own jacket around Miss Parker's shoulders. Her hands were coloured like the cloth of Liz's dress. The sheriff crossed the room and passed some shocked tourists.

"Are you okay, Liz?", he asked with a soft voice. 

The girl nodded. "It's not what it lookes like" She tried to smile. "It's only ketchup, I'm okay, really. I broke the bottle and spilled it", the young women explained. 

"Fine, I think we should ask the people who have been here during the man shot", the sheriff told his deputy still viewing Liz's dress. 

The first one the deputy asked was Maria, who tried to describe the person with the gun and the other one by comparing them with cartoon-heros.

Emily smiled about her explanations. 

"Sheriff?" One of the tourists wanted to talk to Valenti "There was a shot, but there's no bullet! We looked for it, here!" He pointed at the wall. Valenti's fingers went over the surface of it, but he could find nothing but spilled ketchup. 

"And, Sir, there was a boy, I think 17 or 18, with short brown hair. He did something with that girl" This time he pointed at Liz. The woman standing next to him nodded enthusiastically holding a dirty, old photo in her hands.

"And she gave us that!", she added and showed Valenti the image of the thing that _could_ be an alien.

"Yeah, Liz, do you know that boy or this photo?"

The girl shook her head. "No, I think he's a tourist", she said.

"That's a lie! She seemed to know him, sheriff, and that girl, too" 

He was going to talk about details the sheriff should never hear about.

Emily laughed. "I think that's impossible, Mister. I've been to Roswell exactly two times: Once when I was five and this is the second time I visit this town"

"I'm understanding ... Could you describe the boy?", the sheriff wanted to know while he played with an empty tabasco-bottle in his hands.

"Uhm, I cannot remember exactly, `cause it all went very quickly", Emily started . She was starring at the ceiling above her head.

"Try it!"

"Well, sheriff, I think six and and a half feet tall, dark hair, blue eyes. Uhm, I think he weares jeans and a green pullover" Emily described a boy that she had just thought, up a person that did not exist, instead of the one who had helped Liz. .

"Something else?", Valenti interrogated still watching the bottle in his fingers.

"Nothing special ... O, I think he had a button with a little alien on it right here", she pointed at her left shoulder. Valenti nodded, but he seemed to know that she was not telling the truth.

"May I have your number Miss?"

She took the pen he offered her and wrote on the back of the faked photo Liz had given the tourits, than she handed it back to him. 

"What about you, Liz?"

Liz shook her head again. "I only remember the green pullover, but nothing else, Sir"

"I'll call you both, okay? Shall I drive you home?"

The girls looked at each other. 

"No, you needn't. My dad takes us home in half an hour", Liz aswered.

"Are you friends? I thought you're new in town, Miss Frost", Valenti said sceptically.

"Liz invited her!", Maria lied quickly. 

The sheriff nodded and left them to talk to his deputy.

***

The three girls, Liz, Maria and their new friend Emily, sat in Mr Parker's Jeep, driving south the empty road leading to Maria's house. They did not talk about the happenings of this afternoon, although there were things that nobody of them understood. 

After keeping quiet over half an hour Maria asked: "What did he do?"

"Uhm, I don't know what you want to hear, but he did nothing, really!", Liz answered with a kind of nervousness in her voice.

"Who did what, darling?", Mr Parker wanted to know while stopping at a red traffic light.

"Nobody, dad", she tried to lie.

Liz's father smiled and passed the traffic light which had turned green again.

"Okay, okay, you won't tell me, I understand"

The girls kept quiet for ten more minutes until they arrived Maria's house.

"If you are my friends you'll tell me tomorrow", Maria adviced them and left the car.

"Bye, Maria", said Mr Parker.

"Bye, Mr P, bye, Emily! See you Liz!", the blonde, young woman shouted while crossing the garden in front of the house.

"O, Maria ...", Liz muttered quietly. The girl seemed to be very sad about the crack in her friendship.

"It's not your fault", Emily explained.

"I know, but what shall I do now?" 

The warm brown eyes of the sixteen-year-old reflected all her sadness.

Emily put her arm around her friend's shoulder.

"Try to arrange your feelings around one point that could be the centre of all these strange things"

"And what about Maria?"

"She's your best friend, right?"

Liz nodded slowly and tried to smile, but she was not able to look much happier than before.

"Then you can only do one thing: Listen to your heart", Emily told her softly.

Suddenly the car stopped. They had arrived at Liz's home, a small house standing far away from the center of Roswell. 

"Liz, tell your mother that I'll be back at 9 o'clock, okay?", Mr Parker said friendly. His daughter smiled and nodded. She wanted to get out of the jeep, but the other girl stopped her.

"That's for you Liz Parker, perhaps this diary might help you to bring strange things into the right order" 

Emily handed her a small book and smiled warmly. 

"Thank you, Emily", Liz answered and left the car, "Hope I see you again!" 

Then Liz walked towards the wooden door of her family's house. She heared the motor of the jeep and stood outside until the the car had disappeared behind a couple of houses.

***

After emplaining six times to her mother, that she was okay, Liz had gone to her room in the first storey. 

She changed into jeans and pullover and began to examine the whole the bullet had left in her dress. 

"I would be dead without Max!", Liz cried out and stuffed it into her bag. She did not want to see it anymore.

`I need to ask him about the thing he did with me in the Crashdown' 

Carfully the girl touched her stomach.

`Nothing! There isn't even a scratch or anything like that! No whole, no blood, noth-` Liz forced herself to stop thinking about it. She stood in front of the mirror and viewed the reflection of her body. There was somthing on the skin of her stomach that looked like a fluorecing hand-print.

"Oh my god!"

Liz stepped a few centimetres backwards and let her fall onto one of the chairs. 

'What shall I do now?` , Liz asked herself. 

Suddenly she remembered the words Emily had told her before leaving: `Listen to your heart´

The girl did as her new friend had adviced. She closed her eyes and tried to hear the beat of her heart. 

Slowly she felt the calm filling her mind. The soft melody deep inside her helped to arrange all the confusing happening of the past day around one point: Max Evans, the boy who saved her life today. Then she opened the diary Emily had given her and started to write.

***

At the same time Mr Parker's jeep stopped in front of a shabby hotel, called "Seventy-Four-Inn". He glanced at it through one of his car's windows which was covered with dust.

"Here do you live?", he wondered.

Emily smiled. "Yeah, that's my home at the moment. I would move to a better hotel, but they're all overcrowded because of the festival"

"How long do you want to stay here in Roswell?"

"I don't know. Three month, perhaps four", she said and waited for the driver's answer.

"If you have any problems to find an apartment, phone Liz. We might be able to help you", he offered friendly. Emily nodded and opened the door of the parking car.

"Why did you come to Roswell, Emily?"

"Thank you very much", the girl ignored his question and got off the jeep, "Good bye Mr Parker!"

She did not wait for his answer and left him alone. 

The sixteen-year-old entered the hotel quickly. After getting the key to her room in the second storey she glanced through one of the small, dirty windows and realized that Mr Parker was gone.

"I had to be that impolite, `cause he started to ask the wrong questions", she told herself when she arrived at door number twenty-three. Then the girl disappeared in her small room.

***


	2. Differences

Disclaimer: I do NOT own any characters taken from the tv show Roswell. The only character that's mine is Emily Frost, who's no part of the show!

Chapter two: Differences 

The biology lesson had started ten minutes ago when Liz saw somebody slip in. It was Max Evans with a pencil in his mouth and a bag on his shoulder.

"Mr Evans!", the teacher hissed, "It's an honor for me to see you're here in class"

Max blushed a bit and started to watch his shoes after this sentence. 

The teacher ignored him and went on to tell the students what to do in this lesson:

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen, today we want to take a look at cells. The students sitting on the left hand side have to take a look at some cells of their mouth, the students on the right hand side get preparations of plant-cells"

"Uhm, Madame, am I allowed to leave class for a moment? I don't feel very well", Max asked nervously.

"Okay", the teacher replied. Her pale face showed that she was not very pleased about letting him leave her lesson again.

Max stood up and went fast towards the door. 

He crashed into the girl who had just entered the room. All of her books fell to the ground making a lot of noise. Every person of the class turned around to look at both sixteen-year-olds.

Max stammered an apology to the girl, helped to pick up the books and left the room very fast without realizing who the new one in class was. 

The girl smiled in a very shy way and handed her teacher a small sheet of paper. After reading it the teacher nodded. 

"Attention please", she said loudly, "We've a new student in class" She used the piece of paper to point at the inconspicious girl next to her.

"Please introduce yourself !", she added a more friendly way.

The girl stepped along the teacher's desk and stopped in the middle of it where everybody was able tho see her.

"Hi", the girl started trying hard to look self-confident, "I'm Emily Frost and I'm from Washington, D.C. and ..." She did not know how to go on and started to stammer. She blushed.

Some students chuckled quietly about her.

"Thank you, Miss Frost!", the teacher said, "Please sit down"

Emily smiled, walked throught the room. The sixteen-year-old chose the seat behind Liz's one.

Liz turned around and opened her mouth, but the teacher, a woman at the age of fourthy with curly brown hair and gold framed glasses, interrupted her before she could say anything.

"Use your microscopes to examine these preparations", her voice hissed to make the pupils pay their attention to the lesson and not to the new girl. The woman handed Liz one of them and waited until the girl had turned around again.

Liz did not want to look at this boring cells. She did not even knew what kind of plant they were taken from! 

She looked around and stopped at Max's pencil. In that moment she made a decision, in fact a quite silly one. She took his pen and the cotton bud the teacher had put next to Max's microscope. Liz used it rub over the pencils surface to get some of his cells. 

`It's the most stupid idea I've ever had', she told herself while making a preparation.

`Okay', she tought and looked through the lense of her microscope, `Oh, my god ... what's that?' 

She gasped loudly. 

"Ev'rything okay?", Emily asked from behind Liz. 

"Come here and find out yourself!", the brown-haired girl invited her. Her eyes sprakled nervously and showed how outcuraged she was. 

Emily turned around, watched the teacher walking towards two quarreling students who seemd to have a "few" problems with the microscopes on their desk and also with each other.

"Okay", she said curiously and got up still observing the teacher. The girl sneaked around her own desk an sat down at Max's chair.

"Look at this and tell me EXACTLY what you see!", Liz beseeched Emily pointig at her microscope. 

She nodded and took a close look at the preparation her friend had made.

A wonderful green pattern twinkeld brightly through the lense and formed incredible clouds of emerald crystalls.

"Liz? I need a sheet of paper!"

"Why?", Liz wanted to know looking a bit puzzled. Quickly she took out what Emily had asked for.

"To keep this", she answered lost in thoughts. 

Emily took Max's pencils and started to draw the cells. Lines and structures were flowing over the paper forming a copy of the picture they had seen. Liz followed every move of Emily's right hand. The image would be perfect, almost like a photo. Liz could not believe how quickly the girl next to her was drawing. Her hand flew to every direction filling the piece of paper in high speed. Liz became a bit dizzy, had to shaked her head to keep herself awake.

"Okay, that's it!", Emily said finally and showed her snow-white teeth in a wide grin, "That's exactly what I saw!"

"Where did you learn to draw like that", Liz said wondering about the picture, but she stopped talking when she noticed the teacher turning around and coming towards them. She had almost arrived the two girls, when the door of the class room was opened.

"Mr Evans!", the older lady hissed sharply viewing how he entered the room. 

"Yeah, Ma'am?", he asked trying hard to look very innocent.

Emily used the time to get back to her own seat. `Thanks, Max Evans', she thought and let herself fall on her chair.

"You know, what you're going to do this afternoon, Mr Evans?", she heard the teacher shouting at Max and realized the the boy giving her an annoyed: "Of course, Ma'am! I'm goin' to lern what I missed this lesson" and how he sat down next to her friend Liz.

Liz turned around and whispered: "What do you think about that?" She pointed at the image lying in front of the blue-eyed girl covered with a couple of books. 

Emily thought about it for a moment and decided: "It's cofusing!"

She noticed that Max tied to look bored, but in fact he was listening to what their little talk.

Liz had still not realized his interest and said: "It's incredible, isn't it?"

"Faszinating", Emily replied sounding like Mr Spock.

"What's faszinating, Miss Frost?", the teacher asked seriously taking her glasses away from her pale nose and putting them it into the pocket of her blouse. 

Emily turned around and stared into the cool eyes of the woman that almost looked like two deep black pieces of coal. The girl got up and faced the older lady.

She did not want to say "nothing", so she started to do what she was always doing in situations like that, lying or "inventing a new version of the truth", how she often called it.

"Cells", she said calmly.

The teacher began to smile in a friendly way and told her to go on. 

"Well, we're all made from cells, but there are so many differences between us, for example the colour of our hair and eyes, our characters, our sexes or other things that distinguish us. (She watched Max, while she spoke about that and gave him a little smile, when he started to look very seriously into her deep blue eyes.) Cells are what makes us human beings, what makes animals animals and plants plants. They are the material of all forms of live, but they still support the principle of individuality. That's incredible and faszinating" 

When she realized that every student in the room including Liz and Max viewed her, her face turned rosy and she sat down very quickly.

"I have to confess that I'm really impressed about the things you told us", the teacher said, "And what-"

The bell rang and interrupted the teacher. The lesson was over and most of the students tried to escape from the biology laboratory as fast as possible. 

Max was one of them and had disappeared before Liz and Emily arrived the door.

***


	3. Make me understanding you

Chapter three: Make me understanding you

Liz looked through the width of the corridor outside the laboratory, but she could not find Max there. 

`He's already gone', she thought disappointed and began to put her books into her locker. 

Suddenly she felt a cool hand on her shoulder. She turned around believing it was Maria and started: 

"Maria, I can't -"

"Liz" Max's gentle voice made her shiver.

"I'm sorry ... thought you were Maria ... and ...", the brown-haired girl stammered nervously trying hard not to stare at him.

Why do I act like a fool, when he's around me?', she thought and tried to give him a grin to hide her nervousness. She looked at him and waited for a moment until he went on.

"Can we talk?", he asked quietly. His deep amber-brown eyes sparkled when he viewed Liz's face.

"O-of course", she stuttered and turned around to close her locker.

Calm down, Liz!', the girl commanded herself, He's harmless! Calm down!' 

"Okay", he said giving her a shy smile, "In ten minutes, in room 21?" 

He seemed to be restless and very nervous. His eyes went up and down the corridor and stopped only three times to look at Liz.

Liz nodded. "Okay", she said as calm as possible to hide the doubt which started to fill her mind.

"Okay", he repeated and left her alone.

Liz swallowed hard. 

How shall I survive this meeting?', she asked herself. 

***

Three minutes were gone when Liz arrived at the door to room number 21. She decided to stay outside until the remaining time would be over. The girl breathed deeply and leaned on the bare wall next to a row of lockers. The corridors got empty slowly, but the noise of the talking and running students finally stopped when the bell rang. Liz looked at her watch.

It was half past two, what meant that the time was over. 

But where was Max? Had he already entered the room?

Liz decided to find it out and opened the door. She stepped fast forward, entered the room and saw ... Kyle?!

"Uhm, Kyle, hi! What are YOU doin' here?", she asked a bit confused and smiled.

The sixteen-year-old boy sitting on a chair in the center of the room viewed the girl and gave her a friendly grin. "Nothin' or am I not allowed to be here?", he said blinking with his dark eyes.

"Yes, uhm, no! What I wanted to say is ... Of course you can be here! It's only ..."

Her face became rosy and she started to smile embarrassedly. 

Kyle's fingers went through his short sandy brown hair. He knew Liz very well and he was sure that her confusion ment anything.

In that moment Max came in.

"Hi Max", the girl stammered quietly realizing how Kyle's face changed into a kind of mask.

Liz swallowed and bit her lower lip. She had never been a good liar, but now she had to tell Kyle something to get him out of here.

"Max and I are goin' to learn for the biology test, that's why WE meet here", Liz told her boyfriend carefully while she pointed at Max. 

"Okay", Kyle replied dully, "Understand what you want to say, Liz" 

He jumped on his feet, grabbed his jacket and left the room after he had given Max an evil grin.

***

Liz waited for the sound of the door to know that he was gone. A dull click assured that she and Max were alone now. 

ALONE?! 

Liz swallowed and started to repeat the same sentence in her mind again and again: I'm not nervous. I'm not nervous. I'm not ...'

Max interrupted her gently: "Liz?"

"Yeah? Oh, I'm sorry, I'm a bit (she needed a whole second to speak it out loudly) nervous"

"I can understand you, it's confusing and strange", he replied. His eyes shone as deep as two ambers in the twilight of the room.

She stopped herself thinking about this wonderful colour. You are an idiot, if you fall in love with him!', the girl told herself. 

She nodded to show him that she was ready to speak about a *few* things.

"You have a lot of questions about some *happenings*, I guess", he said.

"Okay, let me start", she began, "Yesterday ... I can't imagine what you did with me yesterday. How could you heal me?"

"It's difficult and I'm afraid you might think it's a joke or something like that, but I am an – ", Max told her avoiding to look into her face. Somehow he couldn't go on, when he found himself thinking about the reaction of Liz if he spoke out where he was from, what he was.

She nodded. Her hair fell from her shoulders and hid her face. 

It lookes so soft and smooth ... god! What must I do to touch her hair only one time?', Max thought being angry about this silly wish and about himself. How could he think of loving a human girl? 

Don't dream about Liz, listen to her!', he commanded trying hard to concentrate what seemed to be a lot more difficult when she was with him.

"O-okay Max, let me try to express it in an other way ... You did safe my life, didn't you? Y-you are not like I am, right? (He gave her a shy nod, but kept quiet all the time.) And your cells ..." Her fingers went trough her dark, brown hair to put it back behind her ears. She still didn't look at the boy she was talking to.

"Cells? What – why ?" Max wasn't able to ask the questions which started to flash into his mind, though he didn't know the reason why. Perhaps because this girl was LIZ, the most exceptional person he'd ever met and because he had not expected her to do something like research his physical indications.

"The experiment in the biology lesson – We ... no, I was curious, so I made this preparation to examine cells from I took from your pencil and ... and - I know there must be a mistake or a scientifical explanation to clarify this anomaly or it's perhaps a crack in this microscope-lense or-" She blushed a bit like the girl always did, when she felt that something she'd done wasn't right.

Liz felt Max's hand on her should at this moment. Her eyes went from his chest up to his face, to his incredible eyes. Why do his eyes sparkle that mysteriously?', was the first thing flashing into her head.

"It's no abnormality. It shows the whole truth about me, who am really am! There is no proof, `cause my cells are not like yours", Max voice sounded strange, but gently and honestly. His face looked pale and tired.

Seconds passed by without any reaction of both of them. Time seemed to stand still while Liz glanced at Max to find out, what she exactly wanted to say now.

"Who are you, Max Evans?" Liz's face was showing all her confusion and the curiosity.

"I'm not of this world, not even a human being. I'm ... I'm an _alien_, you would call us like that", his voice faded and he closed his eyes for a couple of seconds.

"Max, do you tell me the truth?", Liz whispered in disbelief. The dark-haired girl embraced her own shoulders with her arms. Something seemed to make her freeze.

"I do, Liz, believe me!", he wanted to make her know how honest he'd been to her.

"You told me, you are an alien from outta space and you think genuinely I could believe that? I might look foolish, but in fact I'm clever enough to realize if somebody lies to me!", Liz said almost weeping and angry. Her lips trembled when she took a deep breath. Then she let her chin sink on her chest so her hair fell over her face again and hid it like a curtain.

"I didn't want to hurt you, Liz!" He cried out sadly, "Liz, it's no lie, I swear!" 

His hands reached out to put them back on her shoulder again, but Max stopped himself. I shouldn't touch her now', the sixteen-year-old thought.

Her face appeared from behind her deep ebony coloured strands , shining wet and rosy in the light, when she finally glanced at the boy again.

"Prove it! Prove what you told me!" Her voice was stronger now, not as thin and angry and hurt as it had been a few moments ago. It neither sounded disappointed nor unfriendly. She'd spoken with the whole strength of her heart Max realized.

"I'll do so", he replied quietly, "I'll do so."

"I want you to know that you can always trust in me. I won't tell anyone what you claimed to be, but I need facts" 

"Fine, let's meet this evenin' " He tried to look calm, but Liz still saw how puzzled he really was.

"Crashdown, 8 pm?", the girl asked giving Max a small smile to let him know that she still liked him. 

"Okay, I'm going to be there", he answered. 

Max's face lightened up when the boy imagined how it would be if she'd seen and unserstood the truth about him and his real nature.

It must feel great to have a person, a human being, who knows that I am *different*.'

"Liz?", he finally said with his tuneful, deep voice, "Hope we're still friends, aren't we?"

"Of course!" She gave him a smile, so honestly and friendly as it could be at all. 

It was like feeling the warmth of the sun breaking through the clouds touching his skin for Max. 

"Okay, I have to go, my English lesson starts in ... (He glanced at his watch for a second and went on.) ... 5 minutes", Max told her and stepped towards the door, although he'd preferred to stay with her in this room forever.

Liz nodded when he passed her and smiled. 

He heared her whisper: "Good bye, Max Evans"

A last distressing glance at Liz made him think: I miss her, althought I haven't left her yet!' 

He finally left the room, but his thoughts remained there with Liz.

***


	4. Friends or Enemies?

Haupttext Chapter four: Friends or Enemies? 

Emily tried hard to find her locker, but there seemed to be hundreds of them. 

Her eyes glanced at the small piece of yellow paper in her hands. 

"187", she muttered quietly and blinked with her eyes. She checked the number a second time and looked around to read the digits written on every locker with deep blue paint. 

The girl followed the order of numbers and stopped when she realized a flock of boys walking along the corridor. Almost all of them wore jackets of the high school football team, so Emily knew how they thought about themselves. Those guys belonged to a different species, a kind of disgusting snail without showing any trace of having a brain bigger than an extremely tiny pea. 

Emily ignored them as well as possible and went on to concentrate about the locker digits. 

"Ah! Found it!", she said happily and attempted to open it with the combination the principal's secretary had written down on her sheet of paper, but it didn't worked. 

The group of boys had stopped behind Emily, `cause they believed she couldn't see them where they were standing now, but in fact she could. They always checked the new girls in town and they were used to choose who was worth it to pay their attention to. The guys started to laugh and to give marks on the girl's hair, her eyes, her body and so on. 

How dumb can a these boy be?', she asked herself. They seemed to think she was completely deaf and blind, `cause they were speaking loudly enough allowing her to understand every single word. 

"Hair: 9 points", a blonde boy leaning on the wall said. He tried to sound like an expert, but his voice reminded Emily of one of these salesmen who'd gone on her nerves for several times. This thought made her grin. She decided to stay and to find out what effect she was having on male Roswellians of her age. 

"9 points? I think they're worth more than 9. My rating is 10", another guy replied grinning. 

"Yep, it's a clear 10 and nothing else. Coloured like mahagony, long and curly, that's how I like it!" 

A wave of laughter followed and then they began to talk about her body. 

Emily shook her her head. 

"That's so typical for sixteen-year-old males", she whispered when she finally decided to try opening her locker again, "As clever as the _homo erectus_!" 

"Who is like what?", a voice asked next to her. 

Emily turned around and looked into the face it belonged to. A boy wearing a football team jacket, too, with dark eyes and hazel coloured hair stood only a few steps away from her. 

Emily blushed a bit and hoped he wouldn't have understood exactely what she'd said about the herd of football players over there. 

"Nobody, I'm sorry. It's just this damn locker", she said. 

He came closer and with a quick move of his arm he bumped his hand against the door of her locker. 

It clicked and was open now. 

"Thank you!", Emily said giving him a friendly grin. The girl put the stack of books into it which she had carried all the time. 

"I'm Kyle Valenti", he said, "I had this locker last year so know how to use this damn thing" He showed her all of his white teeth in a wide grin. 

"Emily Frost", she replied and shook his hand. She didn't wanted to be one of these girl guys like him used to play with. 

Kyle didn't seem to understand why she kept distance between them, so he said "*Cool* name!" and started to laugh out loudly, "Frost ist such a cool name! Do you understand? Frost ... cool ..." 

"As cool as YOU are?", Emily told him seriously. She hated jokes about her name and people who were as sensitive as a rock. 

Kyle nodded half-kidding. "Maybe?" 

"If you get more cool than now I'll be frozen in half a second. Poor Kyle! There would be no-one who laughs at your *funny* jokes", she said ironically and calmly, but without any trace of humour in her voice. 

Emily closed her locker and walked away without waiting for Kyle's reply. 

*** 

Who does he think he is? The most fantastic guy in the world?', the girl thought angrily while seeking her English class. 

Suddenly she felt somebody crashing into her. Emily fell backwards and landed painfully on her back. 

Wonderful!', she thought, The second time today. Did I invite ev'ryone to a "bump-into-Emily-Frost-party"?' 

"Ouch", the voice of a girl said loudly. Emily looked up and found her lying on her back, too. 

"Maria?", she asked while jumping on her feet. 

"Yeah, it's me. Could you help me standing up or do you want to watch me lying on the dirty floor any longer?", the blonde sixteen-year-old said half-kidding and blinked. 

Emily longed for her hand and a few seconds later Maria stood on her feet again. 

"Thank you, ... your name is Emily, right?" 

The girl nodded and let her fingers went through her mahagony coloured curls. 

"I'm sorry, I didn't see you coming", Maria added with a smile. 

"Never mind, I'm okay. Do you know where Mrs Laurence's English lessons take place?" Her voice was clear and friendly without the sarcasm she'd used when she spoke to Kyle. 

"Mrs Laurence's, hum? In the first storey, room 62. You should hurry up, Mrs Laurence turns into a dragon if you're late", Maria advised her and pointed at the stairs next to them. 

Emily gave her a grateful grin and wanted to walk away. But suddenly Maria grabbed her arm and refused to let her go. Her face had turned into a mask, without any visible sign showing her emotions, almost like a stone. 

An image flashed into the dark-haired student's mind and paralyzed her for a second slpit: 

_[Max Evans the Crashdown the boy who tried to stop him by holding his arm like this...]_

"You know what happened" Maria's voice showed traces of mistrust and her her hand encircled Emily's arm like handcuffs. Emily shook her head slightly to become clear again. 

Their eyes met and the glances melted into each other. The blonde girl recognized the serene blue shining like the sky an hour before sunset. She tried hard to focus them, to forget her own reflection and to see the truth behind all that creepy colour. 

"I know", Emily finally replied, "But it's not my task to tell you. I'm sure Liz is goin' to tell you ev'rything. She trusts you, believe me" 

With these words the blue-eyed girl freed her hand and left Maria where she was hoping that she wouldn't be angry because of the answer she got. 


	5. The cave of the dragon

Chapter five: The cave of the dragon 

When the door swung open the teacher stopped talking and turned around from the board to see the "guest" just entering her class room. 

"Good morning, Miss", she hissed angrily while sitting down on the chair next to the wooden desks. She brushed her black, wavy hair out of her face and shot evil glances at the new girl. 

The dragon... so that's how it looks' Emily swallowed hard watching the woman, at least ten years younger than the biology teacher, but without any doubt not as "merciful" as she had been to Max Evans this morning. She was waiting. 

Waiting for what? Emily's apology? 

Okay, if she needs it', the girl thought and opened her mouth, but she closed it rapidly when she realized the *dragon's* eyes contact with sudden anger. 

"Five minutes and thirty-seven seconds too late" Mrs Laurence streched every word like an enormous elastic band. 

"I'm sorry Ma'am", the student muttered quickly. She was already tired of this human beast in front of the class and wanted to sit down. But Mrs Laurence would never let her. Her tiny, watery eyes were locked on Emily. 

What else shall I do? Kneel down and beg for the _great _teacher's mercy?' 

Mrs Laurence slid off her chair on her feet and stepped towards the girl. "Fifty seconds without an excuse, not even a simple good morning, Mrs Laurence'. Your first day today?", she asked slowly. Mrs Laurence didn't wait for a reply. Emily had hardly one moment to pump air into her lungs without being observed by that cruel creature called teacher. 

"This time...", she paused meaningfully, "I won't keep you in, but of course I can't let you go without a little penalty" 

"Penalty?", Emily repeated quietly locking her eyes on the floor in front of her feet. She couldn't bear all the pairs of eyes that joined Mrs Laurence one's while she still stood in the open door. 

What' s that punishmet that teacher has already planned?', she asked herself. Emily was sure to look even more timid than in the biology lesson. 

"Shakespeare", the dragon said calmly and handed her a small book. She shot an evil grin at it. 

"Romeo and Juliet?", Emily read aloud the title. 

"Well, we need actors, my dear. The most important roles are supposed to be played by students of my course, but..." She laughed. "... no-one wants to play. Your little penalty is to persuade them and to find other pupils for the remaining person's of the drama" 

"O-okay. I'll try", the blue-eyed girl stuttered. She couldn't resist Mrs Laurence's focus anymore and let herself fall on an empty chair in the last row of desks without waiting the teacher's permission. 

"Attention, ladies and gentlemen, we want to go on with William Shakespeare", the woman shouted althought it was more than quiet in the class room now. Her voice rose shrilly when she reminded them to keep their mouths shut. 

A dragon, without any doubt ... a quite suiting description for her. She's almost as destructive as a hurricane...' 

Emily put out the picture she had made in the biology lesson and folded it to a small square of paper. Did Liz know that Emily was conscious from whom she'd taken the cells? Or did she let her see the strange image under the microscope to assure herself of being awake? 

She pocketed the piece of paper and let her view fly aound throught the room. Mrs Laurence wrote o lot of stuff on the black board. A few students copied it, other ones leaned casually against their desks or were just yawning and waiting for the bell to ring. Some of the very plucky pupils wrote short messages and giggled voicelessly while reading them. 

Emily decided to join the group that wrote down the teacher's text before Mrs Laurence had the idea of letting the new girl sew the costumes herself. She took out a pencil and began to be a *good student*. 

*** 

Max recognized her as the girl who had tried to help Liz whe the brown-haired girl had been shot. To see her here, in Mrs Laurence's lesson was somewhat surprising for him. She knew his "small" secret, didn't she? 

He felt teribble. Ice cubes seemed to slide down his throat filling his stomach. 

She seemed to be lost in thoughts and had not noticed him yet, thought he was sitting right next to her. Max didn't want to disturb her and tried to concentrate on finishing his notes about Shakespeare, but he couldn't help himself to have a strange feeling. The sixteen-year-old was hardly able to oppress it for a few minutes. It was cold, made him shiver. 

He forced himself to think about how to get the other girl to the Crashdown this evening at eight p.m. without exciting her suspicion. Writing a short message might do it, wouldn't it?', his inner voice told him, adding a quiet maybe'. 

Max took out a small slip of paper. He had to write something. But what? 

_*Need to talk to you when the lesson's over, M. E.*_ appeared on his sheet. He had neither used his brain to compose it nor a pencil to write it down. 

Damn, I should've learned to control myself. Should be more careful next time', Max growled soundlessly. The boy pushed the message and it slid across the table. She only had to read it now. 

He catched himself staring at her while he was waiting. _She almost looked familiar to him!_

You are so dumb, Max!', the boy grumbled inside his brain, You are fancying absurd theories, when ya're nervous' This was more to calm down himself. He had never sensed waves like this from a human being before. Maybe ´cause she knows what I did with Liz. I know, she could be dangerous for us, for Michael, Isabel and me, and that makes me feel this strange things', Max' inner voice assured him. 

*** 

After another five minutes she finally found the message and unfolded the piece of paper. 

_*Need to talk to you when the lesson's over, M. E.*_

The girl wondered who could have put it on her desk. She knew only a couple of students of the Roswell High and M. E. did not ring a bell. _Who was this myterious person wanting to meet her?_ She had not seen anybody throwing the message onto the table or turning around to place it next to her. Emily turned her head to locate where it came from. A group of four or five girls were making notes about the lesson's topic. It was impropable that one of these busy pupils had written the message. Her eyes searched the left part of the room. It made the girl grin to find one of the boys sleeping deeply. His arms and his head lay on the desk hidden by a book, so Mrs "dragon" was not able to see him breaking her rules. If the teacher caught him, she would keep him in for years. But Emily sat too far away to wake him up. For a few seconds she forgot completely to look for the person who had written the message she was holding in her hands and looked for a possibility to get the sleeper out of danger. Farther left, only a few seats right next to her she found a familiar face. Max Evans. She had not minded that he was there. Her hand waved a short "Hi!" to him and he replied her gesture in the same way. Suddenly the blue-eyed, young woman knew who M. E. was. _Max Evans! _

__ Her pen flew over the slip of paper. It took her only a couple of seconds to write down her answer and to add a small request. He sat nearer to the dreaming guy. Maybe he could wake him up. Carefully she pushed it in his direction. 

*** 

When Max unfolded the message a wrinkle appeared between his eyes. Of couse he had not expected an answer like this. He checked the words again. 

"Okay. Could you do me a favour? Wake up the sleeper in front of you. Thanks, E. F." 

Max risked a look and found Alex Whitman's head lying on his desk. His back moved in a regular rhythm. 

It would be a risk to wake him up without making the teacher blurting at both of the boys and sending them directly to the principal's office. 

He had to do it in another way that did not attract too much attention. Streching his legs he tried to kick Alex' foot standing under his chair, but he failed. The sleeping boy moved out of his saviour's reach and snored quietly. 

Max had to think how he could menage to wake him up. 

Finally he decided to get nearer first. With a smooth move the tall brown-haired wiped his books off the desk. His eyes followed Mrs Laurence. She only shook her head when she realized Max' little misfortune and went on writing. He sighed being happy that "the dragon" did not say anything. 

Max used his chance to get up. While picking up his books he shook Alex' shoulder slightly. 

The boy snored a last time and turned around to see the guy who made him wake up. He felt totally dizzy, so it took him a moment to recognize the shy student he knew from his maths lessons. His name was Evans, wasn't it? 

"Thanx", his thin, sleepy voice muttered. 

The reply was short: "Thank her" 

Max growled it quickly pointing at Emily and disappered. 

Strange guy', Alex thought. After rubbing his eyes he felt completely awake again. In a quick move he turned his head to find out whom Evans had simply called *her*. 

It took him only a few seconds, ´cause there were only three other students sitting behind him: 

Near the window sat George Sugarman, a young man nearly nineteen now who wore black clothes and a cap on his filthy brown hair. Then there was Evans, Alex had forgotten his chistian name, who had told him about his myterious saviour. 

And last but not least he found *her*, a fair girl with long curly hair sitting between both of the boys. 

Who is she?' This question spun around in Alex' head. Maria or Liz might know her. Or shall I ask her myself? She safed my live... Mrs Laurence had killed me if she'd catched me sleeping in her lesson. I could ask Evans, couldn't I? But what if he doesn't know who she is, too?' 

The ringing bell cut off his thoughts. Alex got up. The tall, slim boy looked a bit clumsy when he grabbed his books. Somehow he wasn't able to concentrate on stuffing them into his backpack, so they landed on the floor. It took him a few minutes to get all of them back on his desk and into his bag afterwards. 

"Damn!", Alex muttered and turned around to find out where this mysterious, cute girl was now. The student swayed again. She had already gone while he had wasted his time by trying to put the books and work sheets into his rucksack. 

"I'll have ask Maria or Liz. They might know where to find my saviour", Alex told himself. His fingers brushed through his short black hair and he started humming one of his favourite songs when he left the room. 


End file.
